Alemannia Aachen has set its sights on two former Schalke players in its search for reinforcements. One of them was even officially part of the professional squad last season.

Alemannia Aachen is currently evaluating two trial players with a past at FC Schalke 04: offensive player Joselpho Barnes (23) and defensive player Niklas Barthel (20).

Barnes was most recently under contract with Belgian first division club VV St. Truiden. In two years, he played 33 competitive games but has been out since December 2024 due to injury. Before that, the Oberhausen native played for FC Riga in Latvia (29 games, seven goals) and was trained at FC Schalke 04, where he also made eleven appearances for the U23s in the Regionalliga West.

Niklas Barthel also has a Schalke background. The right-back was part of the Royal Blues’ professional squad last season, but did not make an appearance and played no role in the club’s plans. Instead, he played 14 times for the second team. In 2022, Barthel celebrated the German U17 championship with S04.

Both players are set to feature in the upcoming friendly matches on Friday (Roda Kerkrade) and Saturday (Bonner SC) in order to recommend themselves for a possible contract. “They were recommended to us, so we’re going to take a look at them for a few days,” squad planner Erdal Celik told the Aachener Zeitung newspaper.

The future of the most recently tested players, Simon Joachims (1. FC Nürnberg II) and Michael Martin (IK Sirius, Sweden), remains open. No decision has yet been made regarding their signing.

At the same time, Alemannia continues to work on possible reinforcements for the squad. The focus is on Niklas Castelle (SSV Ulm 1846), Marko Ilic (TSV Havelse), and Tolcay Cigerci (Energie Cottbus). While Ulm does not want to let Castelle, who was on loan to Aachen in the second half of last season, go, Alemannia’s initial offer for Ilic was apparently not convincing. According to Cottbus coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz, no inquiry has been received from Aachen regarding Cigerci.